Through Squirrel Eyes: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Hey Hey

You know my girl just called my up
And she woke my from my sleep. *Snores*
You should have heard the things she said
You know she hurt my feelings deep.

I'm gonna buy me a dog.
'Cause I need a friend now.

I'm gonna buy me a dog,
My girl, my girl, don't love me no how.

I'm gonna buy me a dog.
'Cause I need a friend now.

Aw shucks, mom says I can't have a dog. She also said if we were to get a dog we would go to the shelter and not the pet store.

Sigh,
Spooky

Davy Jones
Dec 30, 1945 - Feb 29, 2012

Please visit Hootin' Anni's Thursday Theme Song.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Helping Paws

February 28th is World Spay Day. Groups and individuals can participate by organizing, or take part in, events either today or any time in the month of February which is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month!

I thought this would be a good time to share with you some photos of our two spay/neuter events this month.

On February 15th our group took care of 59 feral/stray/low income cats. This past weekend we helped 35 cats. Unfortunately a windstorm came through on Friday night and Saturday and kept our numbers down for this weekend event.

Before their turn in surgery we try to keep the kitties calm and quiet. They are in a warm, safe environment.

We are very fortunate to have two local vets who perform the surgeries for us. This helps us keep costs down so we can help more cats. We also have vet students who come in sometimes and help out. Donations are used to buy supplies such as vaccines, flea treatments, microchips, etc. The Blue Mountain Humane Society makes their facilities available to us for these events, they even provide staff to help out.

I come in early to help with the check-ins. After surgery the cats come to another area for their shots, a micro chip and ear tattoo. After this is done they are returned to their carrier or trap (for feral cats) for recovery. I and a couple of other volunteers will monitor each cat as they wake up. The photo shows cats in carriers but the feral kitties get equal care.

This is Thomas, a low income household pet. Thomas had a little problem after surgery and was getting some extra attention. He recovered fully and was reunited with his owner at the end of the day. The green you see in the ear is tattoo ink, most of it will wear off in a couple of weeks.

Meet Calliope.

Calliope is a little kitten I trapped for the event on the 15th. She was lucky enough to be taken in by the Humane Society and will soon be up for adoption. Right now she is in a special area receiving medications for a respiratory infection, see the red around her eyes. I had thought she would be wild but it turns out she is a very shy little girl. After I took this photo I picked her up and held her. She immediately snugged up to me and started purring. She is such a sweet little girl she will have a new forever home almost as soon as she is ready for adoption. I will be back over at the shelter this week and will check in on her.

I know all of my readers here are very supportive of spay/neuters for their pets. Some of you also do rescues and we thank you for the work you do. For those who want to help please make a donation to your local shelter or humane society or to an organization in your area that does TNR (trap/neuter/return).

We know the TNR program works because our humane society has seen a big reduction in the number of cats brought to the shelter by individuals within our community in the past three years our program has been operating.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The High View

The pretty female Red-tailed hawk likes to sit in the tree at the back of our yard. There is a large field back there and she hunts the field for mice. She looks small in this photo because the tree is about sixty feet tall and I took this photo from the other side of our yard. In reality her wing spread is about six feet. Please visit Camera Critters for more.

The theme for this week's Photo Time is Grand. The view from Cabbage Patch Hill in Oregon is a very grand view of the surrounding countryside.

Update: Some of you wanted to know about the last spay/neuter event. We processed 59 cats on the 15th, of those 7 kittens were taken by the humane society and they are up for adoption. I will be working another spay/neuter event today and we are expecting about 50 cats. With spring coming the females are going into heat soon so the more we can get done now the less kittens there will be come summer.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Everybody Wants to be a Cat

Everybody wants to be a cat,
because a cat's the only cat
who knows where it's at.

Everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat,
'cause everything else is obsolete.

I've heard some corny birds who tried to sing,
but a cat's the only cat
who knows how to swing.

Everybody wants to be a cat.

glitter-graphics.com

Do some of the voices in this 1970 Disney movie sound familiar to you? Click HERE.

For more visit Hootin' Anni's Thursday Theme Song.

Monday, February 20, 2012

We're Back!

Hi friends! Fuzzi here to tell you how much we missed you. Mommy got so busy last week and then she decided to take the weekend off. We were trying to be good and not bug her but we really wanted to visit our friends in Blogville.

We did go through her photo archives and found some interesting photos. We thought this duck was pretty. Mom says she took this photo last fall. She said we could post this for Watery Wednesday.

We also have a silly story to tell. Mommy was out in the yard and walked around to the side of the house. Our kitty mommy, MK (mommy kitty) was sitting beside a ladder that Daddy left leaning against the house. Mommy teased MK and asked her if she was going to climb to the roof. Before mommy could say anything else MK jumped up and started climbing the ladder. Mommy ran inside to get her camera.

When she came back MK was on the roof and this is what she saw. (Mommy says to tell you it was a very, very foggy day so these photos are not the greatest.)

What MK thought about all of this!

Mommy is now determined to get photos, or a video, of MK climbing the ladder.
PS, don't tell Mommy but all of us kitties can climb the ladder both up and down.

For more visit Freda's Tuesday Takes, Outdoor Wednesday and Watery Wednesday.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Big Business vs Feral Cats

Most of my regular readers are aware that I work with a group dedicated to reducing the feral cat population in our area using a program called TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return). This program has a long track record and has been proven effective. Our group over the last three years has spayed/neutered over 2,000 cats. That may not sound like a lot to you until you consider this:

Recently author Deborah Barnes (The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey) emailed me about a situation in Florida that needs attention from all of us.

Lowes Hotels at Universal Orlando has for years used the tagline "Lowes Loves Pets". Sounds like they love and respect animals doesn't it? Well maybe not.

Since 2004 Lowes has had a successful TNR program operated by volunteers and hotel staff (on their own time of course). A small colony of feral cats lives on one of their hotel properties. They have shelters and are fed away from the busiest parts of the hotel property and away from hotel guests.

Now it seems that Lowes Director of Operations, David Bartek, has ordered all of the cats trapped and removed from the property and taken to a shelter. What this means is almost certain death for these cats.

Read the USA Today article.

In an effort to lure comments about the feral cats away from their regular Facebook page they set up a page called Feral Cat Issue . At the top of that page is the following statement.

"Loews Hotels is committed to helping find a solution for the colony of cats at our hotel. We know that your passion can help us find the most compassionate approach possible, while also keeping the health and safety of our guests and team members a priority."

I am trying to understand what they mean by 'health and safety of our guests and team members'. First I believe this is simply the excuse they have put forward to explain their uncaring decision. The guest and staff are in no danger from the feral cats. These cats are not some dirty, disease carrying vermin. First, cats are clean by nature. Second, cats who have been through the TNR program have been given rabies vaccine. While I cannot speak for all TNR groups, if we suspect a cat has a disease we will test them before release. My point is that in most cases, colonies of feral cats are healthy and happy. Feral cats do not attack humans. Feral cats will hide from humans whenever possible. So what danger is there to guests and staff?

From what I have read so far on this it seems Lowes has no interest in finding a compassionate approach to what they call the "Feral Cat Issue." Hopefully if enough people speak out we will be able to convince them to let these cats stay in the only homes they have ever known and live out their lives in peace.

Deborah has done an interview with Caretaker, George Ricci an employee of one of the Lowes Universal hotels who started the program. I hope you will take a few moments and read the article HERE.

There is so much more I would like to share with you about feral cats but we will save that for another day.

For the next few days I will be working with the Cat Management Coalition on a spay/neuter event. We are expecting to have up to 70 cats this week. I will catch up with all my blogging friends after the event.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Skip and Pounce

Hey everybody! Sissi Cat here. First thing I want to show you is my pretty chin, isn't it the prettiest chin you have ever seen?

Okay mommy, I'll stop being a showoff ..... whatever that is.

When we looked at Mommy's photo archives today we found these cute little flutterflies!
Mommy says they are not moths but a type of butterfly called Skippers.

We think Skippers are soooo cute!

If you want to read more about Skippers you can go HERE.

I also want to show you what we found on Mommy's desk. We thought it was a fun toy that she put there for us to play with. Turns out it's one of here "fun" earrings (that means she only wears them once in awhile). Just as I was about to pounce on it she took it away. Bummer!

For more please visit Freda's Photo Time, Camera Critters and Bozo's Pet Pride.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Love is in the Air

A handsome Mandarin and his lovely lady (upper left). Unlike other species of ducks, most Mandarin drakes reunite with their mate after the eggs have hatched and even share duties in watching the ducklings.

A pair of Nene geese (Hawaiian geese). The male is keeping watch to protect the female on the nest. He will stand guard until the eggs are hatched. Once the eggs hatch the pair will protect their little ones together.

Coscoroba swans. The male of this species will also stand guard over the female and aggressively protect the little ones once they hatch.

An Old Fashioned Love Song, written by Paul Williams and preformed by Three Dog Night

For more please visit Hootin' Anni's Thursday Theme Song.

Happy Birthday Anni!

Spooky Presents Wordless Wednesday

Hey everybody, it's me, The Spookster, here to bring this this week's Wordless Wednesday. I have so many neat things to tell you .....

What's that Sissi?

Oh. . . . . . . . . . . . . so that's what "wordless" means.

Please take a moment and visit Wordless Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Game Time

Hey all you critters and humans out there. We want you to know this is our blog and we're taking it back. After all that header up there says Through SQUIRREL Eyes!

We've had enough of those silly cats posting on OUR blog. So starting today we .....

Knock it off you squirrels, game over for you. Go back to your tree and leave the blogging to us superior felines. Did you hear me? Shoo, now scat.

Sorry about that my friends, Big Boy here to set things right. How about we look at some other critters to get our minds off those tree climbing, nut gathering rodents.

Mama saw these two turtles sunning themselves last fall at one of the local parks.

And this cute little Whistling Duck was at the same park.

This week's theme at Miz Freda's Photo Time is Dirt. Mama found these tracks in some dirt that got wet and then dried. Some silly raccoon walked across the mud before it dried and left his paw prints.

Please visit Miz Freda's Photo Time, Bozo's Pet Pride and of course Camera Critters for more.

We wanted to show you Mama's favorite new commercial. We kitties laughed so hard when we saw it, but we would do the same thing the doggies did only faster. When this one is over look for the one that says Jackknife.

Mama also said to remind everyone of Animal Plantet's Puppy Bowl this Sunday for those who don't watch football. And be sure to catch our favorite the Kitty Halftime Show.